Dry cleaning or washing apparatus



April 14, 1936. I w, R MaODONALD 2,037,523

- I DRY CLEANING OR WASHING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 25, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet l z I K ##brnegs.

April 14, 1936. w R MacDONALD 2,037,523

I DRY CLEANING 0R WASHING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 25, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 zonazd/ April 14, 1936. W. R. MacDONALD DRY CLEANING OR WASHING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 25, 1955 Patented Apr. 14, 1936 oru'rso STATES DRY CLEANING OR WASHING APPARATUS William Robertson MacDonald, Dundee, Scotland, assignor, by direct and mesne assignments, to James Wilson Nicol, Carnoustie,

Scotland Application February 25, 1935, Serial No. 8,185 In Great Britain April 3, 1934 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to cleaning and washing apparatus of the kind in which articles to be cleaned or Washed, and more particularly articles of clothing, are subjected in a washing chamber to the action of a dry cleaning agent in the form of a liquid solvent, a movable basket being provided for agitating the articles to be cleaned.

It has been proposed to construct washing machines so that the axis of rotation of the basket does not coincide with the centre line thereof. Such an arrangement necessarily involves the provision of a relatively greater area of clearance between the basket and the inner surface of the washing chamber and consequently involves the use of a greater quantity of solvent. This is unimportant when the solvent is water but is a serious drawback if valuable solvents such as benzine are required to be used.

According to the present invention, the interior of the washing chamber, in the region occupied by the solvent, is provided with re-entrant projections situated in regions not swept by the basket, which latter is mounted so that the axis of rotation does not coincide with the centre line thereof.

When articles are placed in apparatus made according to the present invention they are not only flung backwards and forwards but also sideways in both directions, resulting in their being very thoroughly agitated and cleaned. Further the internal projections in the washing chamber enable a relatively small quantity of solvent to be satisfactorily used so that the apparatus can be economically operated.

The invention is illustrated in the annexed drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a detail side elevation of a machine constructed according to an embodiment of this invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 4.

Figure 3 is a top plan of the lower portion or half of the tub or housing.

Figure 4 is a detail side elevation of the stationary tub or housing with the oscillating means therefor removed from the frame structure.

Figure 5 is a top plan of the inner basket or clothes receiving member.

Figure 6 is a detail side elevation of the basket.

Figure 7 is a detail end elevation of the basket.

Referring to the drawings, and first to Figures 1 and 4, the numerals l2 and I3 designate a stationary tub or housing which is fixed in a frame F mounted on a base B. The stationary tub comprises upper and lower sections 12 and l3 respectively, and the upper section 12 has a supply'tank 'Il positioned thereabove and connected thereto by means of a pipe 19 in which a valve 20 is interposed. A feed pipe 9 is connected at one end to the supply tank II, and at the other end is connected to a dome l0 carried by a receiver 21 mounted on the base B.

The lower tub section l3 has a well 22 in the bottom thereof. The well is provided with an elongated drain 22a having an inclined bottom surface with an outlet opening 22b located at the lowermost part of the drain. A pipe 23 con nects this outlet with the receiver 2|. Preferably a filter 24 is interposed in this pipe 23 so that the cleaning liquid may be cleaned before entering the receiver 2|, and the liquid entering the receiver 2! may be returned to the supply tank H by means of a pump (not shown) or other suitable means.

Disposed within the stationary tub or member l2-I3 is a basket or perforate member l5, which is preferably rectangular in side elevation and provided with square ends 25 which are perforate as shown in Figs. 2 and '7. The basket l5 has alined trunnions or spindles I secured to each end 25, and, as shown in Fig. 5 these trunnions l are positioned one at one side of the longitudinal axis of the basket l5 while the other trunnion is positioned at the opposite side of the longitudinal axis of the basket I5. In Figure 6 it will be noted that the trunnions are also positioned one above the vertical center of the basket I5 and'the other below the vertical center, so that when the material is placed within the basket l5 all of the articles will be thrown from side to side and from end to end of the basket l5.

A pinion 6 is secured to one of the trunnions or spindles l, and this pinion 6 meshes with a toothed segment 5 carried by a rock shaft 26. The quadrant or toothed member 5 is oscillated from a power member 2 to which the quadrant 5 is connected as by a connecting rod 4, a crank I and a reduction gear 3. Preferably the connecting rod 4 is divided into two sections 4a. and 4b which are mounted in a sleeve 21, and a spring l8 provides a. yieldable connection between the abutting ends of the rod sections 4a. and 4b.

In order to provide a means whereby the quantity of cleaning fluid in the well 22 may be reduced without affecting the liquid contact with the basket I5 and the articles within the basket, I have provided a plurality of projections I4 which are positioned along each side of the elongated drain 22a in the bottom of the well 22 and project upwardly in the direction of the path of the basket. These projections 14 will displace the cleaning fluid, and as shown in Figure 2 the basket l5 will swing quite close to the projections, there being sufficient space between the projections l4 and the basket l5 so that the fluid in the well 22 will freely enter the basket. This cleaning machine has been particularly designed for using a cleaning fluid which is quite expensive so that it is desirable that as small a quantity of fluid be used at a time as is absolutely necessary. Through the use of the projections l4 in the well 22 it will be apparent that only a. small quantity of fluid will be disposed in the well 22, so that while this fluid may be used over and over again by passing the fluid through condensers and other dirt removing means, still the quantity of fluid in the machine is only relatively small while at the same time the efliicency of the fluid is not impaired by using such a small quantity of fluid in physical contact with the material and clothes in the basket I5.

What is claimed is:

1. A cleaning means as set forth comprising a stationary casing, a well in the bottom of the casing, a rotary perforate member, means for rotatably mounting said rotary member upon an inclined axis in the stationary casing, said rotary member having flat walls, and means disposed in the well andpositioned in regions out of the path of the rotary casing for reducing the liquid capacity of the well.

2. A cleaning means as set forth comprising a stationary housing, a well in the bottom of the housing, a substantially rectangular shaped perforate basket, means for rotatably mounting the basket in the housing on an axis inclined to the horizontal, and means in the bottom of the well and projecting upwardly therefrom in the direction of the path of rotation of the basket for displacing liquid in the well in regions outside the paths traced by the corners of said basket 20 while mantaining a predetermined liquid contact with the basket.

WILLIAM ROBERTSON MACDONALD. 

